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SSH News: Storytellers, digital humanities, and new social science journals

Yesterday, SSHRC launched its new competition for Canadian university students: Research for a better life: The Storytellers. Tell your compelling research story in three minutes or less, and you could be one of 25 finalists to win $3,000 and attend the 2013 Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences. After Congress, the five final winners will be invited to deliver a featured presentation at this year’s World Social Science Forum in Montreal. See full details on SSHRC’s website.

Brent Herbert-Copley, SSHRC’s vice-president, Research Capacity, wrote a compelling piece in the Globe and Mail recently, focusing on what successful students study, noting that many graduate students are pushing discipline boundaries and focusing on pressing issues facing Canada and the world.

The McGill 2013 Digital Humanities lecture was recently announced, at which Matt Kirschenbaum (Maryland) will speak to his expertise around digital humanities, electronic literature and creative new media (including games), textual studies, and postmodern/experimental literature. The Federation is also planning to explore the digital humanities in greater depth over 2013, both at the upcoming Congress at the University of Victoria and at our curtain-raiser for Congress 2014 in November. Stay tuned for details!

As discussions around open access journals continue in Canada, the American online news magazine Slate published an article outlining why all academic journals should be open to everyone. Also in academic journal news, Elsevier announced six new social science journals in areas ranging from transport to tourism.